Shock absorber



E. H. SMITH SHOCK ABSORBER Nov. 17, 1925.

Filed April 18, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 17, 1925' 1,561,493

E. H. SMITH SHOCK ABSORBER Filod April 18, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov.17,1925. 1,561,493

E. H. SMITH SHOCK ABSORBER Filed April 18. 1923 75 Sheets-Sheet 3 ,5 M@jkM Patented Nov. 17, 192.5.

U NITEDI' STATES 1,561,493 PATENT F FilCEL EARL n. sMrrr-r, or cnroaso,rumors. AssIenoB; or oNE-HALnrooAaL' H. Jnnnrnsy or eirroaeo, ILLINOIS?SHOCK ABSORBER."

Application fi1ed Apri1 18, 1923. Serial No. 632,971.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EARL H. SMrrH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Shock Absorbers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to spring suspensions, particularly for motorvehicles, and has for its primary purpose to relieve the vehicle fromthe sharp jolts and shocks to which it is customarily subjected, and togenerally improve the riding qualities of the vehicle.

l/Vith this end in view, my invention contemplates a floating triangularshaped lever, pivotal-1y connected at one end to the vehicle spring,swingingly suspended at its other end byone or more links, and pivotallyconnected at a third laterally extending point intermediate the endsofthe lever with an abutment member, against which one or more expansionsprings, interposed between this abutment member and a bracket on thevehicle spring, press to yieldingly oppose movement of the lever in onedirection. The manner in which this structure operates to improve theriding qualities of the vehicle will be apparent as the details thereofare further explained.

Another object of the invention is the provision of pivotally mountedabutment memn at) here at each end of the coil spring adapted,

to pivot as the lever moves, to thereby main 5 7 tain the opposed facesof the abutment members between which the compression spring isinterposed in parallel relation so as to preclude any tendency of thespring to buckle or otherwise distort.

automatically resist the side thrust or sway of the vehicle, and thetendency to capsize, by automatically elevating that side of the vehiclebody toward which the thrust is I exerted and simultaneously loweringthe opposite side.

A further object is to check the rebound of the vehicle body, bypreventing direct transmission of violent shocks and ars from the wheelsto the body, so as to smooth out these irregularities in transmissionfrom the running gear to the body, and thereby improve the ridingqualities of the body. A

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be readilyappreciated as the Another purpose ofthe invention is to same becomebetter understood by refer ence to the following description, whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view showing my invention applied tothe rear spring of a Ford automobile; I

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the application of my invention to thefront spring,

Fig. 3 is afragmentary plan View of a portion of the structure shown inFig. 2;

Fig. 4: is an elevation of the rear end of a car showing myinventionapplied thereto;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 3, showing a modified formof the invention;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on the line 77 of Fig-1;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of one of the friction blocks;

Fig. 9 is an elevation looking at the friction face of one ofsaidblocks; and

Fig. 10 illustrates the application of my invention to a semi-ellipticspring suspension.

Referring now tothe drawings more in detail, and particularly to Figs 1and 4 thereof, reference character 11 indicates a vehicle body, 12 isthe rear axle housing, and 13 is the rear spring disposed parallel withthe axle.

The perches which are customarily mounted upon the brake drum flange 14are in the present instance removed andreplaced by perches 15,.which arecurved and extend upwardly from the flange, as shown in Fig. 1. Eachperch is secured to its respective flange by a bolt'16, and in order toprevent turning movement of the perch about its bolt, the perch isequipped with a pair of oppositely projecting ears 17 shaped to engagewith and between the ribs 18 formed on the outer face of the flange 14Cfor strengthening purposes, whereby the perch is prevented from turning,and is maintained in vertical position.

A pair of supporting links 19 is pit otally suspended from the upper endof each perch, and to the lower ends of these links is pivotally'connected, upon a bolt 21, the outer end of'a lever 22.

This lever is of general triangular shape, the inner end being connectedby a bolt 23 with a block 24 disposed beneath the end of the vehiclespring 13, and held against outward movement relatively to said springby the eye 25 of the spring. Intermediate its ends the lever comprises alateral extension 26 to which is pivotally connected by a bolt or pin 27an abutment member 28.

A tube 29 projects from the center of the abutment 28 in a direction toreceive a rod 31 projecting, as shown in Fig. 1, from a similar abutmentmember 32 pivoted on a pin 33 in a bracket 31-, clamped or otherwisefixedly secured upon the spring 13. A coiled expansion spring 35 isinterposed between the abutment members 28 and 32, and being -normallyunder compression exerts pressure on extension 26 to yieldingly resistcounter-clock *ise movement of the lever 26 about its supporting fulcrum21. To facilitate assembly and mounting of the device, the tube 29 andthe rod 31 are provided with openings 36 and 37, respectively, which,when the spring issufiiciently compressed. are disposed inalignment toreceive a pin by which the abutment members are locked in fixedrelation, holding the spring under compression. The spring may becompressed at the factory by suitable mechanism and thus locked, and theparts are shipped in this condition. They may then be readily assembledon the car, the bracket 34: being attached to the spring 13, whereupon aweight in the car body will compress the spring 35 sufficiently topermit withdrawal of the lockingpin, thereby rendering the deviceoperable.

it will be observed that the three-point lever 26 is adapted to float;that is, each of the ponts 21, 23 and 2'? is movable, and the parts arenormally maintainedin equilibrium by the weight of the car body. As theweight is increased, downward pressure of the spring 13 upon the point23 will tend torock the lever 26 in a counter-clockwise direction aboutthe-fulcrum 21. This movement will cause the point 27 to traveldownwardly and to the left, viewing Fig. 1,

thereby compressing the spring 35, which yieldingly resists suchswinging movement of the lever. At the same time the weight of the bodytends to swing the links. 19 in a clockwise direction about the upperend of the perch 15, which movement is also yieldingly resisted by thespring 35. The parts are therefore balanced and maintained inequilibrium by the action of the spring.

35, which yieldingly resists and absorbs any violent thrusts exertedupon the lever, with the result that these thrusts are not trans mittedto the car body.

It should be noted also that the links 19 are normally disposed ininclined po-' sition, as shown. in Figs. 1 and 4. As-

suming a side thrust toward the right is exerted upon the vehicle body,this thrust will cause the links 19 at the right side of the body toswing upwardly and those at the left side of the body to swingdownwardly, thereby automatically tilting the body in a directioncounter to the thrust so as to maintain the same in equilibrium andobviate overturning. Extreme movement of the levers 26 is limited by ashoulder 38 upon each lever 26, which abuts against its respective perch15 when excessive lateral movement of the lever takes place.

For the purpose of precluding violent rebound of the vehicle spring, myinvention 3 comprehends a stabilizer, best shown in Figs. 1, and 7 to 9,inclusive. From an in spection of these figures, it will be observedthat a bracket 39 is clamped upon the axle housing, and upon thisbracket there is mounted a casing 41 providing a tapered housing at thetop and bottom, and a central restricted guide portion through which anarm 12, formed as an extension of the lever 26, projects. In these upperand lower casings there is slidably mounted a pair of friction carryingmembers or blocks 43, each provided with a slot 44 to accommodate a boltL5, by which the member is slidably connected to the adjacent wall ofthe housing. Upon its inner face each member is equipped with a facingof friction material 46., the opposed friction surfaces being normallymaintained in spaced relation, as shown in Fig. 7. ,A coil spring 47,disposed between each friction carrying block and the end of the casing,normally urges the friction member into the position shown in Fig. I.

Violent downward movement of the spring 13 or upward movement of theaxle housing will swing the lever 26 in a counterclockwise direction,viewing Fig. 1, to thereby force the arm 42 downwardly into engagementwith and between the opposed friction faces, which downward movementwill not be opposed by reason of the fact that the friction members willbe forced downwardly intheir casing against the action of the springs47, where the outwardly tapered walls 41 allow them to separatesufficiently to permit the entrance of the lever 42 therebetween. Uponreverse movement of the lever, however, the blocks will be moved towardeach other by the wedging action of the casing walls, with the resultthat the friction faces will grip opposite sides of the arm l2. andretard its upward movement. The return movement of the arm is thereby soretarded that violent re bound of the vehicle body is precluded. Shouldthe initial movement of the arm 42 be upward, instead of downward, asimilar retarding or checking action will be exerted upon the arm by thefriction members in the applied to the ti'oiitaxlle 4S otthecar. In

this instance the: perches 49', which are. cus tomarily turned inwardly,are reversedso that their upper ends project outwardly similarly totheperches 15. The leverbl in this instance is shapedtooverlie theperch, from which it is suspended by the links the inner end of thelever being connected by a bolt 51) with thevehicle spring, and-anabutment member 5st being pivotally connected to the lever at The leverin this instance may also be provided with a retarding arm 56, ifdesired.

The other abutment member 57 in this in stance, instead of being boltedto thebracket 58, simply. rests against curved bearing lugs 59,formed onthe outer face of the bracket, the member 57 being provided with concavesurfaces 61 adapted to rest against the lugs 59. In this instance, also,the rod 62' extends from the abutment member 54, and is adapted toproject through the abutment member 57, which is provided with aguide-way in the form of tube 63, extending through the bracket 58. Theaction of the. expansion spring 35 in this instance is similar to thatpreviously described.

For heavier duties, I may, if desirable, employ two expansion springs64, as shown in Fig. 6, instead of one, these springs being disposed onopposite sides of the rod and the abutment member 65, while the 0pposedabutment member is similarly shaped to accommodate them.

In Fig. 10 I have illustrated an application of my invention to avehicle equipped with semi-elliptic springs 66. In this instance thebracket 67 is attached to the under side of the spring, and lever 68 ispivoted to the end of the spring at 69 and is suspended from the bracket71 attached to the chassis frame member 72, by means of links 73. Theexpansion spring 'M is in terposed between abutment members carried bythe bracket 67 and by the lever 68, as shown.

It is believed that my invention, its construction, mode of operation,and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be understood andappreciated from the fore going without further description, and itshould be manifest that various modifica tions in the structural detailsillustrated and described may be resorted to within the scope of theinvention, as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a vehicle spring, of a triangular leverpivotally connected at one end to said spring, supporting linkspivotally connected to the other end of said lever, an abutment memberpivotally connectedtosaidlever between the endsthei'e of, abracket'fixed' to saidspring, asecond abutment" member pivota llyengaged with said bracket, and a compression spring in terposed betweensaid abutment members.

p 2. The combination with a vehiclespring, of a supporting link, a leverpivotally connected at its ends to saidspring and link,

respectively, said' lcver including a lateral projection betwcenitsends, a bracket fixed Oirsaidspring, and a coil springinterposed betweensaid bracket and said projection.

23. The combination with a vehicle spring, of a bracket fixed thereon, alever pivotally connected at oneend to said spring, a link from thelower end ojtwhich the other end ot the lever is pivotally suspended, anabutment pivotally bonnected tosaid lever intermediate its ends, andacompression spring interposed between said abutment and said bracket.

4;. The combination of a vehicle spring, a curved spring supportingperch having its upper end turned outwardly, a lever pivotally connectedat one end with said spring, links by which the other end of said leveris suspended from said perch, said links being normally disposed ininclined position with respect to the vertical, an abutment memberpivotally connected to said lever be tween its ends, a bracket fixed onsaid spring, and a coiled expansion spring interposed between saidbracket and said abutment member.

5. The combination with a vehicle spring of a lever pivotally connectedat one end to said spring, a supporting perch having its upper endturned outwardly away from said spring, links by which the other end ofsaid lever is suspended from said perch, and yielding means acting uponsaid lever in termediate its ends for yieldingly resisting movements ofsaid lever.

6. The combination with a vehicle spring of a lever pivotally connectedat one end. thereto, a bracket mounted on said spring, an abutmentmember pivoted to said lever, a second abutment member pivotallyassociated with said bracket, a spring interposed betwcen said abutmentmembers, and means by which the other end of said lever is pivotallysuspended.

7. The combination with a vehicle spring of a floating three-point leverpivotally connected at one end to said spring and swingingly suspendedat its other end, a substantially rigid support, a link between saidsupport and lever to support said lever in full-floating position, abracket carried by the said spring, abutment members pivotallyassociated with said bracket and with said lever, respectively, and acoil spring interposed between said abutment members.

8. The combination with .a vehicle spring of an oscillatory supportinglever connected with said spring, an arm projecting from said lever, andmeans for frictionally retarding the return movements of said lever froman extreme position of its oscillatory movement.

9. The combination with a vehicle spring of an oscillatory supportinglever connected thereto, an arm projecting from said lever, a housinginto which said arm extends, friction members mounted in said housing,and means for causing said arm to be gripped between said frictionmembers whereby return movement of said arm from extreme position isretarded.

10. The combination with a vehicle spring of a lever pivotally connectedthereto, spring means for yieldingly opposing movements of said leverfrom a normal position, and friction means for checking movements ofsaid lever from extreme positions.

11. The combination with a vehicle spring of a lever pivotally connectedthereto, yielding means for opposing movements of said lever, an armprojecting from the lever, and means for retarding movements of saidarm, said means comprising a pair of opposed friction members adapted toreceive said arm between them and a housing shaped to force said membersinto frictional engagement with said arm.

12. The combination with a vehicle spring of a lever pivotally connectedthereto, spring means for yieldingly opposing movements of said lever,an arm projecting from the lever, friction members between which saidarm is adapted to enter, and means for forcing said members intoengagement with said arm to retard movement of said arm in onedirection.

EARL H. SMITH.

